Friday, November 30, 2012

While winding warp for Weaver Rose, I can also weave on the big Macomber loom. While I cannot do both at the same time, I can go back and forth. I call it multi-tasking!

Here is that plain weave gold Bambu warp I have on the loom. I am using black Bambu and the clasp weft technique for another quick scarf. When you do this technique, you are free to design as you go. You could work out a design if you wanted to, but I love the freedom of 'going with the flow'!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

As you know, fellow weavers, we always have more than one project going at at time. And if you own more than one loom, well.............................

I put a summer and winter threading on the Macomber and did a fast plain weave scarf. Here I am working on the hemstitching. I did do a little pattern work on this one edge, about six inches worth, to give it a little punch. Beads may be called upon to finish this edge.

The warp is gold Bambu and the weft is variegated Bambu. (I can't find the color names but got both from Cotton Clouds a year or so ago.)

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I just love the close-ups this camera does!

When I did this pattern work, I used the same weft as the tabby pick and used tie down order 1-1-1-1 and tabby a-b-a-b. ﻿﻿﻿

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

I was able to get 150 ends wound on my 'kite stick'. We just had a discussion at the guild party about all the different ways we have of getting our warp on the loom. I usually use the Peggy Osterkamp's method of using a kite stick. It works for me. Check out her blog here:Peggy Osterkamp. (you will have fun exploring it!)

I am going to put this on the Baby Wolf. As you can see, I am not really organized yet!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

One of my weaving guilds (who meets in Cabool) has a wonderful bunch of weavers. We have a December luncheon and gift exchange every year, and this year for our exchange we picked 'table runners'. It could be any weave structure, color, or size but still be considered a 'runner'. Most of those who attended did weave a runner for the exchange. We also had show and tell (for those who remember to bring their stuff) Here are some photos of the fun:

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Katie and overshot!

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Party favor by Ethel!

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I don't know why this is showing this loom crooked, but it was not crooked! Larry refinished this loom. It's beautiful!!

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My exchange gift was a summer and winter runner woven by Vicki.

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Vicki got a summer and winter runner woven by Sam!

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Jane got an overshot runner woven by Becky and Barbara got the overshot one Jane made.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Putting the Weaver Rose #156 draft on the loom. Thinking of using light brown tabby and dark brown pattern on this very white warp. Will check the stash to make sure I have enough of both colors. But first, I will wind 450 ends on my warping board. That should take a few days as there are parties to attend. More on that later................................

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Yesterday I was working on draft #156 to see what it would look like as-drawn-in and also in a point twill. Well, now I wanted to see what it would look like treadled as a network twill. (I think that is what you call it.) I would treadle 1-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-1, 4-1-2 repeat......

I once gave a Creative Overshot workshop where we put on a 400 thread draft. There were several different designs with that thread count, so we might have had Wandering Vine threaded on our loom, but we would treadle it as Christmas Rose or Johanna Speck. Threading once and treadling several different ways is my idea of 'getting the most out of a warp'!!!!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

I am now working on Weaver Rose's #156 draft. He didn't give it a name, just 'coverlet'. This draft is a standard modern draft, so no problems with getting it into my weaving software. There are only 62 threads in one repeat, and makes a really nice overall design. This is what I think it might look like as-drawn-in. Of course I am not showing the tabby wefts, because it's 'understood' that you ADD TABBY when weaving traditional overshot.

I think I like this in the two colors. I am not to sure about the six thread floats. I will see how long they might be if I dent 30 epi.

The book says he treadled this in a point twill (see blue drawn-down). So right off the bat there are two different looks you could get with this threading. I love the idea of threading once and treadling lots of different ways.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Yes, we have come to the end of the workshop summer and winter finger tip towels that were really samples!!!

These two towels are threaded on a single two-tie THREADING (summer and winter) but woven with one shuttle. So they are not summer and winter, just some interesting towels using Huck and Bronson lace-fashion of weaving. This was a lesson on using your single two-tie threading and getting several different looks with different treadlings, using traditional and non-traditional wefting.

So the next time you see a four shaft single two-tie draft, take a second look and think of some of the different effects you could do with it.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The error doesn't show up very well on this side. This was the side I was looking at as I was weaving.

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This is a great example of what happens if you do not follow the rules. " Whichever order you choose to use, you must use it throughout the entire project" . If not, it will look like you made an error!! I don't know if I threw the wrong tabby or picked the wrong tie-down..... but UK! It doesn't show up to much on one side, but does on the other. I think I remember having trouble, but thought I un-wove past the error. Guess not.

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On this side the error shows up very well. This was the side I had down when weaving.

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But the good news is that I get to keep all the towels that have errors. And besides this was a sample of what single-two tie could do! ﻿I will study it and try to figure out what my error was. This will go into my weaving notebook along with the notes and other info from the workshop.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

I think this towel turned out very well. It really demonstrates the two different sides you get with summer and winter (single two-tie). I had a bit of fun with this one by crocheting a hanging loop in red and green. This was woven in the dukagang-fashion of weaving and alternated pattern and tabby colors. When weaving the red pattern weft, the tabby was green. When weaving the green pattern weft, tabby was red. I also have one hem red the other green.

Monday, November 19, 2012

As you know, I always have a pair of socks on the needles. It's my way of relaxing. Here is a pair I am working on that I dyed back in Sept. 2012. I mention the year, because we are almost ready for 2013!!! And......I have been considering what to weave for MidWest Weavers Conference that will be in June of next year. Maybe I will see some of you who check in on this blog there. Look here if interested: Midwest Weavers Association

Back to the socks! When I was dying these socks, I used the 'hit and miss' method. Some times it is great to just go with the flow without any thinking or preplanning. I am knitting these a little differently than I usually do, also. I almost always knit a six inch- knit two, purl two- cuff. But for these I have a two inch K2P2 cuff and have knitted even for an a total of eight inches for the cuff area. They will be more like slouch socks, just for me! They remind me of all the fall leaves that are almost all on the ground now.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Here is another of Weaver Rose's drafts. This one he called "China Leaves Large". It was found on white pasteboard. He read it right to left and it was in his condensed #2 form. Each thread was numbered, but their position on the horizontal rows indicated the shaft number to use.

This would be a great draft to try out different effects: using different tabby colors or color rotation, or weave on opposites.

How about a white warp, and blocks on shafts 1-2 and 2-3 use red, and blocks on shafts 3-4 and 4-1 use blue. Or could you use a dark green for tabby and light green as the pattern weft?

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Here are a couple more of the summer and winter on four shafts finger tip towels finished! (what a mouth full) ......

I like this one that only has a band of the pattern work on the bottom edge. This would be one that could go in the bathroom or kitchen. Remember those small finger tip towels that your grandmother always had in the bathroom for company to use. This one would fit right in with that concept.

Now, this one in it's Christmas colors would be a good gift given with some sugar cookies and tea. Yum!!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Weaver Rose had some different ways of writing his drafts. The drafts I have been able to figure out - so far - he has all threads numbered, but their position indicates their shaft number. Almost all of his drafts are thread by thread drafts, they just looks different. This was a form of shorthand for him.

Here is an example of the kinds of draft he might have written down. Carol Strickler tells us that he wrote some of his draft to be read from right to left and other left to right. The "Shurkeroon's Fancy" that I showed you a couple of days ago, is written in his condensed #2 form.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Here are two of my small finger tip towels that I have gotten finished. I decided they needed a loop on one corner so I could hang them up. They didn't photograph very well.

And here is a close-up of the color gradation sampler.. ah, I mean.... small finger tip towel. If you click to enlarge you can see the tabby colors better.

And here is a close-up of the pink/green one. Here the colors are showing up better.

When I gave this workshop I said we would be making a "SAMPLER" of the different treadling you could get on this four shaft summer and winter threading. Most of them didn't like that word, so I said we would be making "small finger tip towels"..... That way, they were trying out just some of the different effects that were possible on four shaft, two block summer and winter. They got their 'I want to make something' and I got them to do a 'sampler'. Both teacher and students were happy!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

I have ventured into the world of colonial overshot. I am studying the book "The Weaving Roses ofRhode Island" a book published by Interweave Press. Like most of the old colonial drafts that were written on any available paper, there were omissions and errors. And the way they drafted was not like how I learned to draft. So, this will be a big learning curve for me.

The first draft of Weaver Rose's I am tackling is one called Shuckeroon's Fancy. I am not sure what that means. I have never heard the word 'shuckeroon' before. Any ideas?????

It says he recorded this "on rather mussed brown paper." While working on this I have added to the draft to give it an edge treatment that will allow me to sew the example into a pillow top. I think I kept to his original pretty much, and know there are a few treadling errors (on my part). I will treadle this 'tromp as writ', so that will take care of any my treadling errors shown on this drawn down. (Weaver Rose had some errors of himself in his threading) ;-)

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

I received the book 'The Weaving Roses' (copyright 1985) by Isadora M Safner, from a very good weaving friend of mine and now that I have all my previous commitments finished I can explore this book.

The book states that William Henry Harrison Rose and his sister Elsie collected weaving drafts and made an effort to save them for future generations. He invited a group of fellow weavers to a meeting with the object to form an organization to "insure the future of American handweaving". The author states that he says none of the drafts are original to him. He and his sister wove many of the drafts that are collected in this book.

It will be fun exploring some of the overshot drafts that Weaver Rose "began collecting in the nineteenth century, some which dated back to the 1700's."

Monday, November 12, 2012

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿I have come to the end of this study of four shaft summer and winter (single two-tie). I have enjoyed working on the four shafts but I kept thinking of even more effects ﻿﻿﻿I could have done if I had had more shafts. ﻿
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View from back of loom!

I have seven things to finish. But first I will sew the fabric into a circle and throw in the washer and dryer. Then I will see what worked and what didn't. Since I seem to be slow to finish the hem process, look for these little towels as the days go by.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Using my summer and winter THREADING of two blocks and using only one shuttle this is called a 'Bronson Lace Treadling Sequence'. I think this will resemble a waffle weave effect when washed. These one shuttle weaves are much faster to weave than traditional summer and winter. This cannot be called S&W because we do not treadle according to the rules. It's more of a 'method' of weaving.

My treadling sequence is:

1-2, 1-4, 1-2, 1-4, 1-2, 3-4

1-2, 1-3, 1-2, 1-3, 1-2, 3-4 repeat for desired length.

For those who have access to the Handweaver Guild of America library you might be able to check out SUMMER AND WINTER STUDY of DES MOINES WEAVERS GUILD, Marian Powell. Their study of summer and winter has endless possibilities to explore. My example from yesterdays post and today's came from that source. I didn't see a date, so hopefully the title will help you find this publication.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Now my title might be a bit deceiving. I am still using the summer and winter (single two-tie) THREADING, but will now use it with one shuttle. This is called 'double huck alternating with three tabby picks'. And of course, as with traditional summer and winter, the back looks different. So we will have to wait until I get this off the loom and washed to really see what it looks like.

This was one of the different treadling I gave my SW Workshop student. I wanted to give them a one shuttle weave to show the many different effects you can get on one warp. Try it with an eight shaft draft.

This is a four shaft draft using two block. Here is the treadling:
1-2, 3-4, 1-2
1-4, 2-4, 1-4, 2-4, 1-4
1-2, 3-4, 1-2
1-3, 2-3, 1-3, 2-3, 1-3 repeat from top for desired length.

Friday, November 9, 2012

I am still working on my multi-color summer and winter finger tip towel. I am hop-scotching along!

Here you can see that the blocks are increasing in size as I weave in 1-2-2-1 tie-down order and a-b-a-b tabby order. I finished with Purple pattern and Blue tabby and have started the next block with Blue as pattern and Blue-green as tabby. If I continue with my increasing blocks, I will weave this 14 blocks. I have woven three so far.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Hop-Scotch is a game I played as a kid. You draw some boxes on the sidewalk and hop over some and land on others. That name came to mind when I thought, "what would it look like if I wanted to use lots of color?"

So here is what I am doing: I am letting the tabby thread introduce the next pattern color as I hop from block to block. And at the same time, I am increasing the size of the blocks by two each time.

My first block was woven four time with yellow as the pattern and orange as tabby. My next block was woven six times with orange as the pattern and red as the tabby.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The red-green towel was a lot of fun to do. I really liked the effect I was getting. So with this new one, I am just treadling the blocks in a different design but using the same dukagang method and the same tabby order.

I am swapping the two colors when I change blocks. One block has the green as pattern and tabby as pink. When I change to do the other block I am using pink for pattern and green for tabby .

Because of the white warp blending with these two colors, I am getting two shades of green and two shades of pink. I think that is pretty cool. I should have figured out how to put a shot of yellow in there and make the pink block look more like a little flower. Maybe I will add that effect when I get them off the loom.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

I really like the effect of weaving this in 1-1-1-1 tie-down order. It makes the Christmas colors really pop. This technique is often called the Dukagang method.

Also, it is very important to use the tabby in the correct order throughout or it will be quite noticeable. I am using my tabbies in a-b-a-b order. But you could use a-a-b-b order for your tabbies and get a different background effect.

Since these are small finger tip towels, I think giving this as a gift wrapped around a plate of divinity candy would be fun. But I will need to find someone to make the divinity candy for me first ! ;-)

Friday, November 2, 2012

Life sends us on side trips, but rest assured I will be knitting away on my socks while away from the loom. I hope to be back posting my weaving adventures with the summer and winter soon. But until then......
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Thursday, November 1, 2012

This is some sock yarn that I dyed at that Sept 2012 dye workshop. I like how the colors spiral down the sock. I am not sure how I managed to keep the yellow and purple from running together and making brown (and there seems to be a bit of green in there too). As you can tell by my comments, I didn't keep track of what colors or in what order I was doing what. I love to just let the colors land where they want to, so that each pair of socks will end up being one of a kind.

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It also helps to have a few Apple-Cinnamon Muffins around while knitting socks! Who is bringing the coffee?

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Just A Bit About Me

I am a weaver who wants to explore ideas, and am always curious to know more. I enjoy sharing what I have discovered with other weavers. I consider myself an artist who works with fibers. I am one of those weavers who wonders "what if...".